How lucky we were to have Jessica Prentice, one of the original San Francisco “Locavores”, present “Deepening Our Sense of Seasonality” in Norwich, at King Arthur Flour on Tuesday night.

Jessica Prentice reads

Jessica is a knowledgeable and articulate spokesperson for local and seasonal food and her presentation was relaxed, engaging and enjoyable. She uses the structure of 13 full moons throughout the year to talk about seasonal food through history and through different cultures and myths.

There was some interesting Q and A after her talk; I particularly appreciated her response to the question of “elitism” in regard to local and organic foods. Jessica said the issue was a big one, and she didn’t have all the answers but she did have observations and opinions: she observed that people have eaten local food through most of human history and our current dependence on globalized corporate food is just a “blink” in human history.

Many immigrants come to this country with a tradition of growing their own food and continue to do so in spite of low incomes. Many cities have community gardens where low-income people can grow food for themselves and their neighbors. The problem is not low income — it is a matter of culture and values. (If the culture promotes junk food, alcohol, cable tv, video games, and lots of commercial “stuff,” those things are likely to become the major values and where people spend their money — in our culture, farmers are demeaned and local food has not been given much value.)

I personally felt energized by Jessica’s presentation and know that Cindy Heath and Lou Anne McLeod are now percolating on the idea of community feasts a la 13 Moons!

–Pat